7 Reasons Smarter Management Leads to More Innovation

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Heather Hurst is Director of Corporate Marketing at Workfront. She develops attention-grabbing marketing campaigns, combining proven and emerging tactics to build brands. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Heather has enjoyed raising profiles of both B2B and B2C companies. She is a media relations, strategic planning, crisis management and event planning guru. Her superb communication skills let her successfully lead marketing teams in both the U.S. and Europe.

In marketing, time is money. Yet time isn’t a uniform asset that always carries the exact same worth. Rather, how time is used determines the success of any workplace activity. That’s where management comes in. By ensuring that time at work is well spent, managers ultimately spell the difference between companies that thrive and companies that get left behind.

One of the keys to remember about any task is that if you can make it more streamlined, efficient, and effective not only do you get more done with your time, but you also empower the people working for you. This may seem like it is just about productivity. But it’s also true that smarter management leads to more innovation.

Take a look at a few very important reasons why you should be investing in smarter management to out-innovate your competition.

1: Expand Awareness

In the recently released State of Work report, we gain some key insight into the way work happens. For instance, we found that 58% of knowledge workers are so swamped with the tasks they need to handle on a day-to-day basis that they just do not have time to think about how to do things in a new way — something 64% of knowledge workers say their employers want.

Imagine what it could mean to your company if you could break away some of that time to give your team more time to innovate. With smarter management, you can expand your awareness of the way your company is currently operating. Before you can move your company forward, you have to know what is happening within project workflows and processes. By investing in smarter management, you gain that awareness.

2: Help Your Team Become Personally Involved

Another key fact learned from the State of Work report is this — 61 percent of US workers say the work they do on a day-to-day basis matters to them. Baby Boomers, interestingly, value the work they do significantly more than Millennials.

In a recent Gallup poll, respondents reported on what they found valuable in a company they work for long term. The survey found just 29 percent of millennials feel like they are truly engaged and valuable to their company.

Why does this matter? When our employees see their work as valuable, and value doing a good job, it ends up helping your business to thrive. Smarter management allows you to place more time on building these relationships.

3: Cut Out Needless Details

By using smart management tools, you can cut out some of the boring, limitedly beneficial tasks that your employees handle on a day-to-day basis. Remember, these are the tasks that are taking away from their time to be innovative.

Did you know that, as of right now, currently available technology could automate as much as 45 percent of the tasks people do — and are paid to do — with the same level of efficiency? A McKinsey survey also found that 60 percent of all occupations — and that includes the marketing sector — could see 30 percent or more of their activities automated?

4: Inspire Team Members

What we have learned is that employees really do want to change. They want to find ways to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. In marketing, no matter which task is yours to manage, there is the need to be on time, creative, and unique. Yet, they lack the time to do this.

The State of Work report also shows that 44 percent of people responding to it say they are requesting more tools to help them manage their work. This shows us that employees are happy to make changes if it means that they can work more effectively or even just have more time to handle the tasks they want to do. These tools can help to free up important time for innovation.

Give people time to innovate. What you may not recognize is that when employees personally care about the type and quality of work they do, they are inspired to do more. And, perhaps most importantly, they are inspired to innovate.

5: Keep Innovation as a Foundational Component

In marketing, you are only as good and as valuable to your client as you are to the creativity and uniqueness you bring to the table. The bottom line is, innovating within this field is critical.

A Forbes article noted that two-thirds of companies recognize that innovation is not just important to their companies, but that it is crucial to their survival. Would you say that’s true of your organization?

If you employ smarter management methods, you gain the opportunity to achieve this. In some situations, innovation is so valuable to a company it should have its own tasks and time dedicated to it. Yet, if you cannot see where this can be added to your employee’s day — or they do not see where it can fit into their workload — there is no way to build and use those tools.

In short, without insight about the way you are managing time and marketing tasks, you cannot make more time for what’s so valuable to your company right now — innovation.

6: Gain Key Insights

When you have an operational system of record, you gain more insight into work management right now. And, you can spot trends, problems, and opportunities right away. While much of smart management is about innovation, it is important to also recognize that this can also lead to bottom-line improvements and profits.

A study from Forrester found that over half of all companies plan to increase spending on marketing technology. Another report indicates that 77 percent of those top-performing companies using automation in marketing say their biggest reason for doing so is to grow their revenue with improved conversions.

If you are not sure if you will get a return from your investment, think again. Many times over, automation allows for the building of profit margins.

7: Enable Growth Via Integration

Being good enough is no longer good enough. That is, when new software integration, your company can advance and grow with and even ahead of the competition. Smart management like this does not end up costing you. It provides a way for your company to advance. For instance, after the bicycle company Trek integrated smarter work management, they increased their on-time product delivery to 80% and regained 30% of their time for innovation and improvement.

The State of Work report is perhaps the best place for companies to start. When you enable your employees to innovate, you allow your business to scale. And, to achieve this, you need to focus on work management through smart tools.